Available since May 21, 2024, XDefiant had a complicated launch and never really managed to attract enough players to justify its launch. Faced with the situation, Ubisoft has made a radical decision, since the title will simply close its doors in a few months.
It's official, XDefiant is closing its doors
Just a few weeks after affirming that there were no plans to close, the publisher announced today that the game has entered its “closure process”, with the servers scheduled to shut down on June 3, 2025. If new downloads, player registrations and purchases are no longer available, the studio assures that Season 3 will still be launched.
We thank you for your incredible support and dedication to XDEFIANT. We regret to inform you that we are beginning the closure process from today, December 3, 2024.
Therefore, new downloads, player registrations and purchases will no longer be available. Season 3 will still launch. The servers will remain active and the game will be fully playable until June 3, 2025.
Ubisoft also says that players who purchased the Ultimate Founder's Pack and made purchases within the last 30 days will receive a refund within eight weeks.
Players who purchased the Ultimate Founder's Pack will be fully refunded. Players who made purchases within the last 30 days will also be refunded. Please note that these refunds will take up to 8 weeks to process. For details on refunds, please visit http://XDefiant.com.
“the journey has become too long to be reasonably continued”
In a message published on Twitter, Mark Rubin, Executive Producer of the game, explains the reasons for this closure, mentioning in particular that the free-to-play genre is a “long journey” and that it had become “too long to be reasonably continued.”
A few years ago, Ubisoft and the SF development team embarked on a bold adventure to develop a new arcade shooter called XDefiant. From the start, it was an incredible challenge.
Not only were we trying to shake up the genre by removing Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) while bringing back a more “old-school” arcade gaming experience, but we were also diving into the high-risk, high-reward realm of free-to-play. to-play. And for this, I would like to congratulate not only the development team but also the management of Ubisoft for taking this risk!
Free-to-play, in particular, is a long journey. Many free games take time to find their feet and become profitable. It's a long journey that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared to take until very recently. But unfortunately the journey has become too long to be reasonably continued.
He then takes a moment to thank his teams for the work accomplished, then the players for their support and in particular the importance of “open and honest communication between developers and players”.
I am of course heartbroken to write this post. Yes, this game has been a personal passion of mine for years and yes, I know that not every challenge leads to victory, but I also want to pay tribute to all the developers who are affected by this closure. Each of them is a real person with a real life separate from ours and they all put a lot of their passion into creating this game. I hope they can be proud of what they accomplished.
I know I will always be proud and grateful to have worked with such an amazing team! A team that really outdid itself.
And what they have accomplished is truly remarkable. We broke the internal record for the fastest game to surpass 5 million users and ultimately over 15 million players played our game! This is something to be extremely proud of, especially considering how difficult the genre is. Thank you to all the developers who put their passion into this game!
If there's one thing I hope we all take away from this experience, it's the importance of open and honest communication between developers and players. This “player first” mentality, along with the respectful, non-toxic conversations between developers and players, was one of the defining differences that made XDefiant so special. Since my very first post on XDefiant, this is the vision I wanted to champion, and I hope it leaves a positive mark on how the gaming industry treats its players and communities.
To our players, THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the incredible community that has grown around XDefiant. Your passion, creativity and dedication have inspired us every step of the way.
If you like XDefiant, you have a little more than six months left to enjoy the title before its final closure. Remember that the game is playable for free now on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC. If it did not revolutionize the genre, it nevertheless had some appreciable qualities which will, we hope, inspire other productions of the genre.
